[Preview] Early Asuswrt-Merlin 384.6 test builds are available

[LilyKim]

It seems to work fine, although I just have one problem. Seems something went wrong, and my DNSMasq is completely broken. The router cannot even update using NTP anymore. Tried switching to public IPs through the web-UI, but even that fails. :s

 

[Gitsum]

Does the Alpha 2 for the AC86U have the GPL 21045 in it?

 

[MarkRH]

Does the Alpha 2 for the AC86U have the GPL 21045 in it?

No, none of them do yet. Gotta wait.

384.6 (xx-xxx-xxxx)
- NEW: Merged with GPL 384_20942 (AC56U and AC87U currently
missing)

 

[Sanna1967]

No, none of them do yet. Gotta wait.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/p...builds-are-available.47385/page-3#post-413822

 

[RMerlin]

Don't most of the change logs in the .zip downloads of the alpha 2 test builds say 20945?

Changelog file isn't always updated immediately after changes are done, to avoid spamming the commit log with documentation merges. Like the firmware itself, changelog file is also a WIP. During alpha stage, the Git commit log is the only reliable source of information.

 

[Vexira]

It seems to work fine, although I just have one problem. Seems something went wrong, and my DNSMasq is completely broken. The router cannot even update using NTP anymore. Tried switching to public IPs through the web-UI, but even that fails. :s

Factory reset.

 

[matthew_eli]

Updated on alpha2 2 days ago on my RT-AC86U and, I don't want to say too loudly, but it seems the Wireless Scheduler has been fixed after several versions it was broken...

 

[unsynaps]

Updated on alpha2 2 days ago on my RT-AC86U and, I don't want to say too loudly, but it seems the Wireless Scheduler has been fixed after several versions it was broken...

Was never broken for me. Restarting my 86 weekly for months with zero issues.

 

[kfp]

Was never broken for me. Restarting my 86 weekly for months with zero issues.

It’s not the restart mechanism that’s broken, most probably the wireless driver ends up in a weird state and gets stuck, and how it gets to a weird state is highly environment dependent.

 

[AntonK]

AC3200 and AC86U had completely closed source code for httpd (last night I got a fixed GPL for the AC86U). AC88U had one of its formerly open sourced files closed, and was using slightly different httpd code (probably a different code branch). AC5300 was still properly open sourced like in the past.

So that means I have none of the required binary blobs for AC3200, and I have incompatible binary blobs for the AC88U. I had to hack'n'patch things to make them work with the RT-AC5300 httpd source code.

From a non-techie: Does the above mean that of the routers where the 384.6 test build is available, the AC3200 is the poorest candidate for upgrade at this point because of the absence of "...required binary blobs"?

Thanks,
Anton

 

[TheOldMan]

From a non-techie: Does the above mean that of the routers where the 384.6 test build is available, the AC3200 is the poorest candidate for upgrade at this point because of the absence of "...required binary blobs"?

Thanks,
Anton

I consider the RT-AC3200's goose cooked. I got a RT-AC86U because the 3200 uses 2.6 kernel and has tons of holes in it. I doubt it's security after I saw it fail to protect against malware attacks and spammers. I tested several ipset schemes and these proved my point. Don't just throw away the 3200 though. Use it as a wired access point.

 

[kfp]

I consider the RT-AC3200's goose cooked. I got a RT-AC86U because the 3200 uses 2.6 kernel and has tons of holes in it. I doubt it's security after I saw it fail to protect against malware attacks and spammers. I tested several ipset schemes and these proved my point. Don't just throw away the 3200 though. Use it as a wired access point.

What are you on about? Name one attack that affected 3200 but not the 86.

Were you testing ipset on stock firmware?

And it’s so insecure you don’t want to use it as a router but using it as AP is ok?

 

[kfp]

From a non-techie: Does the above mean that of the routers where the 384.6 test build is available, the AC3200 is the poorest candidate for upgrade at this point because of the absence of "...required binary blobs"?

Technically, yes, but this is only for httpd. I have not observed any weird issues on my 3200 yet (no noticeable memory leaks, no crashes, no CPU pinned at 100%, no restarts of the httpd process), but I have it in AP mode so most pages aren’t available to me, obviously YMMV.

The wireless drivers have also been updated though, I’m guessing this is what you’re more interested in? [emoji41]

 

[RMerlin]

From a non-techie: Does the above mean that of the routers where the 384.6 test build is available, the AC3200 is the poorest candidate for upgrade at this point because of the absence of "...required binary blobs"?

Thanks,
Anton

No, it simply means we have to wait for Asus to release updated GPL drops for the RT-AC3200 so I can get rid of some of the patches I had to implement on httpd. This should not have any visible impact for end users.

 

[RMerlin]

and spammers

It's not a router's job to stop spammers, it has zero influence on your SMTP/POP/IMAP/Activesync traffic.

 

[bsdsource]

And it’s so insecure you don’t want to use it as a router but using it as AP is ok?

Absolutely. I would never allow a consumer grade router to face the internet. Strictly use them as access points only. Below is my current setup:

             internet
                |
                |
           cable modem
                |
                |
   ----  dynamic wan ip ----
  |                         |
  |          openbsd        |   <----- can't live without this
  |                         |
   ----- 10.255.255.1 -----
                |
                |
       rt-ac3100 (ap only)
           10.255.255.2
                |
                |
           lan network

 

[deddc23efb]

Absolutely. I would never allow a consumer grade router to face the internet. Strictly use them as access points only. Below is my current setup:

             internet
                |
                |
           cable modem
                |
                |
   ----  dynamic wan ip ----
  |                         |
  |          openbsd        |   <----- can't live without this
  |                         |
   ----- 10.255.255.1 -----
                |
                |
       rt-ac3100 (ap only)
           10.255.255.2
                |
                |
           lan network

+1 for ASCII art!

 

[HeadBanger]

Updated on alpha2 2 days ago on my RT-AC86U and, I don't want to say too loudly, but it seems the Wireless Scheduler has been fixed after several versions it was broken...

Same for me. This is the first time the wireless scheduler has worked on my 86U since I bought it a few months ago.

HB

 

[guho]

Technically, yes, but this is only for httpd. I have not observed any weird issues on my 3200 yet (no noticeable memory leaks, no crashes, no CPU pinned at 100%, no restarts of the httpd process), but I have it in AP mode so most pages aren’t available to me, obviously YMMV.

The wireless drivers have also been updated though, I’m guessing this is what you’re more interested in? [emoji41]

My AC3200 2.4GHz issues from 384.5 seem to have been resolved with the new drivers of 384.6alpha. I am very happy about that and returned to Merlin after a brief period on latest Asus stock firmware. I use mine as an access point (main router is Fios quantum router) but have it in router mode, so can use all great Merlin features and customizations such as OpenVPN server etc.

 

[unsynaps]

Absolutely. I would never allow a consumer grade router to face the internet. Strictly use them as access points only. Below is my current setup:

             internet
                |
                |
           cable modem
                |
                |
   ----  dynamic wan ip ----
  |                         |
  |          openbsd        |   <----- can't live without this
  |                         |
   ----- 10.255.255.1 -----
                |
                |
       rt-ac3100 (ap only)
           10.255.255.2
                |
                |
           lan network

Tin foil hat much?